Blogs

Don't like them! Although - to be fair - the technology is serving me very well for this on-line journal. Don't really get it! Why do people want to write a public diary? Is it the need to be published? To have 5 minutes of fame? Anne Bartlett-Bragg, from the University of Technology, Sydney, 2003 believes there are 500,000 plus blogs on the internet. There are some claims that there may be more than 2 million. Ever read any? Ever been sent a link to any? Who is publishing and what for? To be fair British newspapers use them extensively to encourage readers to comment on newsworthy stories. Presumably this gives them a channel to spawn more stories and to edit according to the views of their readers. Guardian Unlimited blogs are evidence that some people like them and have time in their busy schedules to respond with comments. Personal experience is less positive. Two attempts at blogging proved how difficult it is to use this as a two-way form of communication. Nobody writes back. How do you get momentum going so that people constantly log on and respond? Both blogs 1) for contacting old students and 2) for gathering feedback on the student newspaper both died a death within the space of a week. Couple of learning points from this exercise though: 1. If you are the author of multiple blogs your details have to be the same on each blog. Any additions/amendments to your profile copy through to all blogs. Hence my details have now overwritten the details of the PR students on the Fonts blog 2. More interestingly, the comment from an ex-student that said "we're all in Facebook" Not giving up on them though. As stated above the technology is great for an on-line journal and this may be something to trial with the students next academic year. A blog seems the perfect medium for students completing their Personal Development Skills Portfolio the core of which is a reflective narrative on their skills development. From reading Bartlett-Bragg it may be possible to encourage Level 1 Personal Development students to engage with blogs to produce an online journal. It should be possible to encourage them to get as far as Stage 3 in the process- "Reflective Monologues"